While shoring up its domestic presence with its pending acquisition of Air Deccan, Kingfisher Airlines has big long-haul plans as well, including a possible alliance tie-up, Chairman and CEO Vijay Mallya said at this week's IATA AGM in Vancouver.
British Airways flew 9.3 billion RPKs in May, a 2.1% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity dipped 0.1% to 12.7 billion ASKs and load factor fell 1.5 points to 73.3%. Southwest Airlines flew 6.27 billion RPMs in May, up 5.2% on the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 9.2% to 8.47 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 2.8 points to 74%.
Croatia Airlines ordered four 76-seat Q400s with options on two more, Bombardier announced. Firm orders are worth an estimated $105 million at list prices. The turboprops will replace three 48-seat ATR 42s in the airline's fleet, which also includes four A320s and four A319s.
Silverjet signed an LOI to acquire two 767-200ERs from Thomsonfly for delivery next March. Aircraft are powered by CF6-80C2B4Fs. The all-business-class carrier now has five of the type either in use or on the way. It currently operates one aircraft on a daily London Luton-Newark service but said it is considering an additional 30 routes. Its second aircraft is undergoing cabin reconfiguration. A second daily frequency will start in late July. Silverjet flew 3,628 revenue seats in May at 62.6% load factor.
South African Airways, which revealed a major restructuring initiative this week, is being offered the opportunity to reverse its financial situation but has been warned it will not be backed indefinitely by the national government, which owns the troubled carrier.
Northwest Airlines announced the following executive changes: Executive VP-International, Alliances & Information Technology and Chairman-NWA Cargo Phil Haan resigned effective July 31; Executive VP and CFO Neal Cohen was named executive VP-strategy and international and CEO-regional airlines; Senior VP-Finance and Controller Dave Davis will succeed Cohen; CIO Theresa Wise was promoted to senior VP and CIO. TAP Portugal CEO Fernando Pinto was named chairman of the IATA board of governors yesterday at the AGM.
B/E Aerospace said yesterday that it has been selected to provide main cabin retrofit and new-buy seating programs for some 250 aircraft by US Airways, Frontier Airlines and AirAsia in contracts collectively valued at more than $70 million. The US deal includes retrofitting A320s and equipping new-buy single-aisle aircraft with economy and first class seating. The contract with Frontier covers retrofitting A318s and A319s as well as equipping A320s with economy seating. The AirAsia award is a follow-on order for economy seating for new-buy A320s.
Royal Brunei Airlines named Ray Sayer its new CEO, effective Sept. 1. Los Angeles World Airports named Gina Marie Lindsey executive director, replacing Lydia Kennard, who resigned in January. Formerly executive director of Seattle-Tacoma International, Lindsey will oversee Los Angeles International, Ontario, Van Nuys and Palmdale airports.
News from Travel Technology Update: Galileo said it can "state unequivocally" that it has no intention of forcing any customers to migrate to a new system in the U.S. The statement was the clearest indication yet that if Travelport, Galileo's parent, succeeds in acquiring Worldspan, it does not intend to integrate the two systems. That means Travelport will operate three GDS platforms; Galileo, which was developed in Europe, was never integrated with the U.S. born-and-bred Apollo system.
Amsterdan Airport Schiphol will need a sixth runway to accommodate its anticipated growth, Schiphol Group indicated in its long-term outlook published last week. AMS expects passenger throughput to grow 84.4% to 85 million by 2025, with freight more than doubling to 3.5 million tonnes. Runway capacity will need to increase from last year's 423,122 flights to 600,000-650,000 by 2025, with a new passenger area constructed by 2015, the airport said.
IBM signed an agreement with Avianca to operate and manage the airline's information technology in a deal valued at $12 million. The Colombian carrier said outsourcing its IT will lower costs and enable it to focus on "core business operations."
Virgin Atlantic Airways revealed yesterday that it intends to launch a business class-only carrier within the next 12-18 months. In a first stage, the new airline will fly transatlantic routes to the US from London and other European cities including Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Zurich. Direct flights from points throughout the EU to the US will be possible under the new open skies regime that will take effect March 30, 2008. Virgin did not say which aircraft it would use to operate the flights.
South African Airways said yesterday that it will ground its 747-400 fleet, divide into seven subsidiaries and cut its management staff by 30% as part of a comprehensive restructuring effort aimed at returning the carrier to profitability.
IATA raised its profit outlook for 2007 on stronger-than-anticipated economic growth in Europe and Asia that has caused airline revenue growth to come in higher than previously believed.
IATA member airlines yesterday approved a five-month "one-off" extension to May 31, 2008, to the deadline for transitioning to 100% e-ticketing for tickets processed through the IATA Bank Settlement Plan.
US Airways launched daily Philadelphia-Brussels service aboard 757s in two-class configuration. During the winter schedule, the service will be reduced to four weekly flights aboard 767s.
Korean Air, saying it "shall no longer remain indifferent to the invasion of low-cost carriers from China and Southeast Asia into the Korean market," announced plans yesterday to launch an LCC within three years that will operate flights on domestic and short and mid-range international routes using 737s. The plan's unveiling culminated a process that began in 2005 when a KAL task force started studying the feasibility of the airline operating its own LCC.
European Commission yesterday approved the proposed merger of First Choice Holidays and the tourism division of TUI Group, excluding certain hotel assets.
Kingfisher Airlines revealed a few more details Friday about parent United Breweries Group's acquisition of 26% of Air Deccan parent Deccan Aviation ( ATWOnline, June 1), including that the promised offer to acquire an additional 20% of Deccan will be priced at the same INR155 ($3.82) per share. The initial stake cost UBG INR5.46 billion. UBG will be the largest shareholder in Deccan and will nominate three directors to the 12-member board.
Bombardier last week formally introduced the Next Generation version of its CRJ700, 900 and 1000 that feature all-new cabins with increased use of composite materials. "The NextGen aircraft will offer advantages in operating costs versus their nearest competitors, which will have up to 15% higher trip cash operating costs," Bombardier Regional Aircraft President Steve Ridolfi said. The Canadian manufacturer said NextGen improvements include fuel burn savings up to 4%, lower maintenance costs and longer intervals on maintenance schedules.
US Airways launched daily Philadelphia-Brussels service last week. EasyJet will start daily Madrid-Ibiza flights on June 21. Etihad Airways launched thrice-weekly Abu Dhabi-Thiruvananthapuram service. Hamburg International will begin weekly Weeze-Erbil service on June 21. The carrier has served the Iraqi city from Munich and Frankfurt since 2005. Sky Express of Russia will increase Moscow Vnukovo-St. Petersburg service to thrice-daily from daily beginning today.
STG Aerospace is offering a wireless system designed to monitor and diagnose onboard emergency light systems for commercial aircraft. The Wireless Emergency Primary Power System eliminates the need for visual inspection of the cabin lighting system with the use of a wireless monitoring unit that enables cabin crew to test the entire emergency light system from a control panel. WEPPS is in the final stages of FAA certification.
SkyEurope Airlines reported a consolidated net loss of €32.5 million in the fiscal semester ended March 31, a slight amelioration from the €33.6 million lost in the year-ago period.
